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Brain candy for Happy MutantsTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:22:53 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Watch two-legged kitten destroy a village while chasing a laserhttp://boingboing.net/2015/01/29/watch-two-legged-kitten-destor.html
http://boingboing.net/2015/01/29/watch-two-legged-kitten-destor.html#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 17:55:20 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=361172
Mercury is a two-legged kitten who lost his front legs in a weed whacker accident. Thanks to The Community Cat Coalition of Edmond, Mercury has a home, but not before they made some very cute videos.]]>

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/13/image-search-of-the-day-pet.html/feed0Most popular dog names of 2014http://boingboing.net/2015/01/06/most-popular-dog-names-of-2014.html
http://boingboing.net/2015/01/06/most-popular-dog-names-of-2014.html#commentsTue, 06 Jan 2015 21:56:33 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=356813list of top dog names, with top ten lists for males and females. Many also made 2014's top human baby names.]]>list of top dog names, with top ten lists for males and females. Many also made 2014's top human baby names.

They've compiled lots of other great statistics in a cool infographic:

One of the casualties of Myanmar's 1962 coup was the Burmese cat, which had to be repatriated from from foreign pedigreed stock about ten years ago. Wong How Man of China Exploration and Research Society describes how he reintroduced them.
The cats were brought in from the UK and Australia after considerable negotiation, and they now have their own private compound at the Inthar Heritage House, Inpawkhon Village, on Inle Lake. By the looks of the second video, the food is amazing, too!

Below are some still from the film:
]]>http://boingboing.net/2014/10/23/watch-burmese-cats-return-fro.html/feed0Now Entering Hy-fur-spacehttp://boingboing.net/2014/05/01/now-entering-hy-fur-space.html
http://boingboing.net/2014/05/01/now-entering-hy-fur-space.html#commentsThu, 01 May 2014 21:23:49 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=300399Click to embiggen.]]>

[Video Link]. I'm recovering from yesterday's chemo infusion (my fifth!), and feeling kind of lousy. Jonathan Mann asked me this morning if he could write a song for me as his daily song project, and if so, if I had any theme requests. I was like, duh! Kittens, and space. And like a beautiful internet miracle, bam! Just hours later, he created the wonderful video above: "Kittens in Space."

Maybel and Jeremy
They put their space helmets on
Many months of training are about to pay off
They are feeling excited
And proud to be representing all the Kitten race
Maybel and Jeremy are going to space

Fuel gauge!
CHECK!
Banana!
Double CHECK!
Laser pointer!
Ahhhh CHECK!

Kitties in space!

We're getting close to Mars
Send a message back to base
One small step for kittens
One giant leap for kittens in space!

Craig Davis Pinson, a composer who is a Boston Conservatory student, writes in the liner notes for the video embedded above:

This is a set of variations written on the melody heard in the Youtube video Nyan Cat. It is an experiment, in which I tried to find the limits of how far I could transform the melody before it begins losing its identity. The theme is known as Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!, originally posted by username daniwellP on the Japanese video sharing website, Nico Nico Douga. The Nyan Cat phenomenom has become ingrained in popular culture, and amazes me both in its sheer absurdity and its freakishly colossal popularity. However, fascinating as they are to me, the origins of the theme are not played upon in this composition. Instead, I treated Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya! as pure musical material from which to generate music. The motivation to use this theme came from my repeated viewings of the video, and slowly realizing that it is a strangely alluring melody. Therefore, this is my tribute to Nyan Cat. Credit goes to daniwell-p for creating this theme, prguitarman for creating the gif animation, and saraj00n for joining them. Theme used for non-commercial purposes as per daniwell-P's request.

On a large scale, the work is structured along a simple alternation pattern. The theme and its variations alternate, similarly to rondo form. However, the theme is progressively dissolved, meaning that each time it returns it contains less percentage of the source material. This chipping-away continues until there's nothing recognizable left. In the variation episodes, more tools are employed to change the essence of the theme, especially, pronounced changes of duration, texture, harmonic character, and of the intervallic makeup of the melody. Each of the variations has its own defined character, and they contrast sharply with one another in mood and technique. Despite of the contrast of its sections, the piece exploits a long-scale narrative arc, playing on the contrast between the theme's duration - which remains essentially consistent at each iteration - and the durations of the variation episodes, which seem to grow out of control as their proportions become subverted.

This is a recording of the Juventas Ensemble performing the premiere of the work, on the Composer Recital Series 12, February 9, 2012 at Seully Hall in The Boston Conservatory. Many thanks go to this amazing ensemble for valiantly performing a very demanding score! I really appreciate it!!

Worth noting: animal rights advocates do not think the temple itself is wonderful, as the afore-linked Wikipedia entry explains, because the big cats there are kept in abusive conditions. (via Bill Gross)]]>

I wanted to share this awesome (I think) picture. My wife's co-worker (who happens to be named 'Cat'), just celebrated her birthday.

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Kevin Nutt (who loves pizza, cats, and Boing Boing) writes,

I wanted to share this awesome (I think) picture. My wife's co-worker (who happens to be named 'Cat'), just celebrated her birthday. Her husband sent over this special pizza order for the office to share. Pretty clever I thought. I love how they arranged the toppings for her name, and then there's the finishing touch of the pizza that looks like a cat!

So this is Cat's Cat & Cat pizzas! (that's the best I could come up with...sorry)

I'm a HUGE fan of Boing Boing! Since the site is 'Cat Friendly' I thought I would be a good place to share. Oh, and I know it's Friday and not Caturday...

Jenny digs into what happened with the volunteer effort to rescue and adopt the abandoned pets, and talks to scientists about the effect of fallout on animals (including intergenerational and genetic changes, like what the world saw within bird and wild animal populations after Chernobyl). Snip:

The piece, which airs tonight, reports on the group Safecast, which has measured, mapped and crowdsourced data on radiation levels in locations throughout Japan, particularly in the hot spots near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The dog was one of several scrawny, undernourished dogs and cats they encountered, most likely abandoned by their owners during rapid evacuation.

Today's weird animal viral video is, like all great examples of the genre, equal parts funny, creepy, cute, and sad. Apparently, the cat in this video is having a fear/anxiety/aggressive reaction to the presence of a young girl (sounds like under 5 years old?), a friend of the daughter of the guy who shot the video. Or I don't know, hairball?

I've never seen this behavior before, and wonder how the owners might best deal with it. But also, I couldn't stop laughing.

One of my greatest regrets about my recent trip to Japan? I didn't manage to meet Maru.

Today, there's news that provides some consolation.

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One of my greatest regrets about my recent trip to Japan? I didn't manage to meet Maru.

Today, there's news that provides some consolation. The story of Maru, a Scottish Fold cat of great internet fame, will soon be available in book form for English-language audiences.

In I Am Maru (out Aug 23 in hardback), the kitty's owner mugumogu "gives readers a peek into the low-key life of the world’s most famous cat," and an insider's view on all his favorite hiding places around the house: trash cans, cupboards, cereal boxes, you name it. "If it’s cozy, he’s there."

Thank you for making the internet a sweeter place, Maru. Let's hang out sometime, when you're done promoting that new Mac operating system? As one YouTube commenter put it, "Some people want to meet Justin Bieber or Barack﻿ Obama. I just want to meet this cat."